Mold assemblies comprising two side mold parts and a base mold part are commonly used in the formation of plastic containers such as, for example, biaxially-oriented PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles. The side mold parts usually are a unitary half-part construction or multiple modular half-parts. Also unitary half shells carried by a mold carrier are utilized.
One typical modular mold assembly for use in a hot fill application is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,699 issued May 2, 1995 to Collette et al. This patent teaches the use of a modular mold having vertical height adjustments by the insertion of shims into the mold. However, the modular mold disclosed is not suited for use in mold shell technology where mold half shells are supported by mold carriers.
While unitary mold half shell parts are known in the art, when there is a need to change the volume or length of the container to be formed, this requires the use of different full length unitary half shell parts adding to mold development costs.